Public BLACK SUN PRESENTS Weekend Treasure Hunt 35: Treasure of the Traitor Empress (OPEN)

[Tamsin Graves]

​

Theme: Glitter & Gold
Equipment: Armor | Other Equipment Here
Side Tags: Kaila Irons | Vakhari Lutris | Vestra Tane | Delila Castillon
Main Tag: Eido Wreyth

She found herself wandering further into the ship, she randomly passed by various computer panels that might be able to give her a manifest of things her sister might want. Why did she care what she wanted, what about what she wanted. She would try to tell herself not to think like that, even if she was pissed at her sister. She knew damn well whatever she found would be shared with her in some capacity.

No, she would just get yelled at again for doing nothing wrong, she would tell herself in the next breath. She would probably find something worthless and get chastised for it cause wasn't an empress, director, or God knows what else. She was just some dumb slave clone; she would mutter in her own self-pity. Her purpose was to serve as a catalyst and die, to whatever the hell possessed her.

It was odd though. she realized as she thought those who thought the demon didn't chime in to tell her she was right. It would have been the opportune moment to break her down further. It was still embroiled in its war of words unbeknownst to Tamsin. Part of Tamsin thought she was completely worthless, and another was telling her she was being a damn idiot.

The voice in her head she was at war with was her own for once not a demon or beast. She was mad at her sister but in deeper truth she was mad at herself more than anything. She had no idea who she was or purpose, her sister had tried to give her purpose, but it seemed to collapse every time. She had to wonder if that was issue outside her sister she had nothing to fight for or stand for.

She rounded another bend and came to a door, she looked at the control panel on it for a second. As her thoughts shifted from anger to self-pity. The door gave her a moment to take her mind off it all, but it only lasted a few minutes as she pulled a panel from the door and fiddled with a bit of the wiring. As she did the door hissed open as she pulled this wire and set another in another socket.

"To easy….." She whispered to herself even as the ship creaked and lurched pushing her forward, stumbling through the door into a cargo bay filled to the brim. As she did something came rolling to her feet. Her booted foot stopped it, but as she looked down at it, she saw a hand reaching out for it. Under her helmet she quirked an eyebrow as she followed the hand up an arm to a shoulder and then a face of tattooed zabrak woman.

Tamsin was a bit surprised as she looked down at the prone woman curiously and then to the wooden ring caught just beneath her boot. "Finder's keepers?" She didn't know where it came from but something deep inside her thought it would be funny to say. Tamsin wasn't cruel by nature but maybe it was the anger seething in her just made her want to be a smart ass in that moment. Or maybe it was the fact as the girl was prone Tamsin was actually bigger than someone in that moment and the height was going to her head.

 

[Varm Nul]

HUTT SPACE
THE CHIMAERA

The frosty exhale was the first indication of the temperature change. Varm Nul watched his breath mist, before he groaned and pulled his long coat closer around himself. He felt the cold press in, he was thankful for the combat jumpsuit he wore under his layered clothing, otherwise he might have been chilled to the bone. As it was, the pair were moving and likely - hopefully - getting closer to some kind of reward... preferably one that didn't attack them.

"Wait, lookit that," Varm Nul said as he held out a long-fingered hand to pause. "Looks like a reinforced door..."

The opening was ajar, perhaps due to the grinding and crashing and shifting of the vessel. The hull was cracked in places, indicating it had probably popped due to some misaligned portion of locking device. All the better, that meant it would be easier to check inside. Meanwhile, ID9 beeped over the comm and informed the group it was returning, while the loader locked down the ship for protection.

"I'm game."

Varm Nul pushed the door open with a grunt, revealing the interior. As the lighting activated, the space was revealed; there was an assortment of weapons, but also a display case of metal and plastiglass. Inside was armor. A display plaque stated simply 'Contempt'. Nearby were a pair of Makashi-hilted lightsabers, too, on a display worthy of note - Darth Shule.

"Some kinda armory? Likin' how this is lookin'."

Koda Fett | Ashin Cardé Varanin​

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Contempt, Ashin's armor - Varm Nul and Koda Fett
The lightsabers of Darth Shule, Je'gan Olra'en, illusionist and fencer, Fallanassi heretic, repentant Sith, briefly Grandmaster of the Jedi Order - Varm Nul and Koda Fett
Krath war droid with original pulse-wave bow and preserved five-thousand-year-old Jedi bloodstains - Varm Nul and Koda Fett
Ring of the Root-Mind - Tamsin Graves OR Eido Wreyth (FIGHT!)
Petrichor, a powerful translation ring - Tansu Treicolt
Khovesk, Ashin's mace - Domina Prime
Ashin's glove - Vestra Tane
Fragments of the Obsidian Throne - Vestra Tane
Chimaera nav database, including post-Planeshift data for huge portions of the Unknown Regions, gathered by a probe campaign as a gift to the Sith Empire - Kaia Starchaser

MANY MORE TREASURES WAIT TO BE CLAIMED
OR WILL FALL INTO THE GAS GIANT
AND BE LOST

 

[Lirka Ka]

TAGS: Quinn Varanin Ellissanthia Mercy Eira Dyn

For as smooth as docking went, Lirka was still at least somewhat disappointed. It was too passive for her tastes, much rather would the Once Sephi have had a proper boarding craft, ramming into this ancient metal hull and burrowing themselves deep into its subsystems. But alas…family heirloom…or whatever.

It was quite the assortment, and Lirka did need to give the dear princess Quinn Varanin props for her capabilities at gathering up all the various miscreants of the Empire under one banner. A potent skill indeed. A dangerous variable, in the grand schemes of Sith-Imperialist politics.

Lirka was a cautious watcher this go around, too many faces, too many possibilities for would-be-assassins gladly tossing her into the depths of the void alongside the warship. So, with careful tact did she watch Ellissanthia do her work - and was reminded ever so graciously of the undeniable truths of her Dark Path. As the ship lurched forward, Lirka decided tact was far less appropriate. A metal claw launched out and grasped the Udine’s shoulder, yanking the girl away from her work with a monstrous snarl. The force, their greatest tool, their greatest weakness. The fickle powers of sorcerers and mystics - the shroud that fell over the eyes of the Sith and blinded them to true enlightenment.

“Careful, child!”

She was nicer than she could have been, though the nicety quickly began to dissolve as temperature warnings flashed in front of her eyes from her armor’s internal systems. A rumbling, venomous, frustration oozed from her voice. Rarely was a Force Dead freak to immediately go to the realm of spirits and their protective alterations of reality.

“Evidently - you fried whatever pitiful attempts of temperature control still existed in this place. Haste grows in importance - lest the fleshy ones among us wish to freeze.”

Thankfully Lirka had internal heating to get herself going a bit longer, but judging by the chill in the air. She doubted it would be all that much longer than the rest of this miserable lot.

“Now - if someone has a better tool. We may just have to navigate with the grace of Darkness at our backs. At least, till whatever defenders remain in this derelict decide to make their attempt on our lives.”

As if to accent her general desire for violence, Lirka’s great machete popped to her hand. Crackling to life with glowing electro-plasma filament, raising the thing as a glorified glowrod for now - the Once Sephi wasted little time delving deeper into vessel, the careful watching eye of a looter waiting for whatever vault she could reach first. It was time for an Imperator to take point - at least till whatever supernatural horror decided to present itself in a matter that being stabbed, hacked, and slashed to death would have been ineffective.

 

[Koda Fett]

Varm Nul

He was told of the cold, more so than felt it. Systems whirred behind the helmet amid a flash of displays and notices, the armour able to deal with even the most extreme environments.

Fett eyed the lightsabers and armour after slipping through into the armory.

"Here," he tossed a hilt to Varm, pocketing the other. "The loaders can carry the armour back. I say we keep moving."

 

[Domina Prime]

​

Ashin Cardé Varanin | Tamsin Graves | Eido Wreyth | Jerec Asyr

​

Dima was in love.

Her claws traced slow, delicate lines over the golden steel of the mace as if it were some rare jewel and not a skull-cracking relic. She turned it this way and that, letting the cold light run over its shape, her five eyes wide with dilated wonder. A delighted little hum slipped out as she gave it a testing spin.

"Don't know who this Ashin lady is," she murmured with a smirk in her voice, "But wow...she had amazing taste. Slightly heavy on the back end though~"

Her kin might have gushed over plasma cannons or starfighter mods, but Dima always had a childlike reverence for simpler weapons. Swords. Axes. Blunt hunks of steel that you could really feel when they hit bone.

This mace? Oh, it was art.

But the deeper she prowled the corridors with her new prize, the more the ship began to...change.

The temperature plummeted. The kind of cold that seeped right past fur, skin, scale- Down into marrow. Deckplates turned slick beneath her talons, her bare feet hopping back and forth as if the metal were a frozen pond. Frost crawled across bulkheads in jagged veins. The air thickened with a mist that clung to her legs like grasping hands.

"O–oh golly, it's getting kinda foggy in here..." she squeaked, tugging her heavy cloak up over her shoulders with all four arms. "Did someone turn off the heat? The KARK is this?"

She tried to laugh it off, but her ears flattened, her tail rattled with unease. The mist pressed closer, each breath leaving a little cloud before her mask.

"Maybe- just MAYBE...smashing up the spaceship of a Sith empress wasn't very...wise~" she muttered, lifting a leg like a housewife spotting a rat scuttling across the floor.

She despised the cold. Always had. Enough to make her chest flare with sparks, her crystal heart bursting embers into her throat. Smoke curled from her nostrils, static snapping across her scales as she stoked her own fire. The frost sizzled, hissed back. The ship seemed to enjoy the duel, wrapping tighter around her as though daring her to last.

Her imagination clawed at her. Haunted halls. Ghosts. Curses. Sith witches lurking just beyond sight. And with her droid gone missing, the thought of navigating out of this nightmare solo gnawed at her nerves.

"X9!!" she barked into the shadows, voice ricocheting through the steel carcass of the ship. "I think I'm ready to go now! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Silence. Only the hum of the dying engines and the creak of ancient bulkheads shifting in the cold.

Then, her eyes caught the viewport. She froze. Outside, the Chimaera drifted closer to the gas giant, the planet's storm-bands swelling with hungry force. One tug too many and the whole derelict would be dragged down into the abyss.

All five of her eyes dilated in shock. "Oh sugarsnaps~" she hissed.

She needed an exit. Now. But every hurried step took her deeper into the ship's belly, corridors yawning wider, darker. She quickened her pace, tail lashing, until finally there was movement.

A silhouette bent over a sparking panel, wires spilling from the wall. A stranger. And when the hatch hissed open to reveal the chamber beyond, there stood another: crimson skin, horns like a crown, unmistakable Sith aura curling about her shoulders.

Tamsin Graves & Eido Wreyth .

Domina stopped dead, cloak settling like wings across her frame. Her massive tail thudded against the deck, announcing her before she stepped into the light. Four arms spread wide. The mace gleamed in her claws. She looked every inch the nightmare intruder the Chimaera itself might have conjured.

And then-

"Pssst...PSSSSST!" she stage-whispered, leaning down toward the pair, one claw cupped conspiratorially over the lip of her mask.

Her voice dropped into a dramatic hush, eyes darting left and right as if checking for eavesdroppers.

"You guys aren't going to believe this," she whispered. "But i think this ship...might be HAUNTED!" She told them as if she had known them her whole life despite being strangers.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"We have that in common, you and I."

Tydeus stumbled into a wall as the ship lurched.

"If you have something of use to provide, mechu-deru or otherwise, say it," snapped the boy, annoyed at the persistence of the gatekeeper despite what little it had provided thus far. Still, it was in part due to the gatekeeper that he had even discovered this vessel and its rumored contents in the first place.

The boy unclipped his own lightsaber hilt from his suit belt as he and Tansu awkwardly lumbered down the hallway in their exosuits.

"The Sith empress who owned this ship used to have a god-killing sword, Tansu," Tydeus said into the commlink, "At least that's the rumor."

Even if he didn't find the sword, there had to be something else on this ship that would be of use. Just then, the temperature dropped about forty degrees and his suit's external monitors beeped a soft alert. Frost crystals appeared at the edges of his exosuit's visor.

"Not good," he muttered.

Then they rounded the corner and came to a very large, highly reinforced door. Tydeus looked around and found a control panel, he tapped at it hopefully, but it keyed a lock-out symbol and demanded a passkey.

"It'll take forever to carve through this..." he twisted his body to look at Tansu Treicolt . "What's the ship tell you?" Tydeus closed his eyes briefly, "Or do I have to ask the Invigilator for an impromptu lesson in mechu-deru?"

Darth Adekos

 

[Varm Nul]

HUTT SPACE
THE CHIMAERA

Varm Nul caught the hilt of the tossed lightsaber and slipped it away into a coat pocket. He zipped it up for safekeeping. When Fett mentioned the loaders could lift the armor display, the Duros nodded and began to type away on his wristpad. One of the E-B loaders stepped forward with lumbering thumps, before it reached out and grasped the object in question.

"I reckon this one should handle it," Varm Nul muttered, as he listened to the droid servos whine and power up. It then wrenched the display free and hefted it in two hands. "Yep, good. Means we've got one more loader, Fett."

With a smirk and a finger across the brim of his hat, Varm Nul turned and looked to his armored companion.

"Let's keep pushin' on."

A few moments later, ID9 had returned and was soon leading the loader back toward the ship. That allowed the two bounty hunters to continue on their way...

Koda Fett​

 

[Koda Fett]

HUTT SPACE
THE CHIMAERA

Fett claimed to detest gambling, condemning it as a lowly vice for weak-minded fools. Yet, it may well be not quite so true with the ship teetering on the edge of a storming nebula, possessing goods that would fetch a more than worthwhile price, and then feeling the pull of one more score. There was no interest in the items themselves, not beyond their worth in credits, with him having no use for them beyond being able to claim the treasure of a Sith Lord.

He pressed on, entering the next room with the blaster held low but ready. It was a vault, of sorts. A great many things lined the walls, though none were more notable than the holocron safely contained within a display case of its own. Unaware of the importance contained within.

"I have a buyer for these," he wafted the barrel over the holocron with a faint dip of his helmeted head. "Force artefacts. That should cover it."

What Mauve wanted with them, he didn't know. Didn't care. She'd pay, and that's what mattered.

Varm Nul​

 

[Varm Nul]

HUTT SPACE
THE CHIMAERA

The next room revealed another interesting trove of things. Like Fett, Varm Nul had little value in the applied application of the items and more in the sale of said things. He was no Force Sensitive, the Duros couldn't call on the magical powers of Sith or Jedi or whatever else they all called themselves. But he had a fondness for credits and wealth, which was all he needed to be spurred on to find more to claim and sell.

"ID9 run a scan on the holos," Varm Nul said as he began to control the E-B loader. "I'll get the loader t' carry whatever we throw into the box."

The large droid pulled a flat panel from its back, before it shook the metallic thing and it unfolded into a storage container several feet wide by a foot high. Enough to store smaller items securely, close and lock a lid, and avoid balancing a heap of loose objects. The droid stood there, waiting, holding the box for items to be added. Meanwhile, ID9 beeped back and caused the Duros to raise his eye ridges.

"Those holos contain somethin' about transcendin' death... sounds like a payday, huh. Alright, let's fill the box up."

Varm Nul began to move to one side and started to pick up small assortments of bits and pieces, unsure of what most of them were, but willing to bet they could be sold wholesale to some budding client interested in Sithy things...

Koda Fett​

 

[Eido Wreyth]

Location: The Chimaera, cargo hold
Wearing: Armor
Tag: Tamsin Graves

"Rrrrghh!" the Zabrak snarled.

She was so close, so close, only to find the ring underneath some girl's boot.

Red eyes shot up at her, and with one careful push of her arms, threw herself to her feet. A row of horns which pierced through her helm made the Zabrak woman look larger than she was, but even without the warrior-witch's mystical ornaments, she'd have towered over Tamsin Graves with ease.

She gave a predatory tilt of her horned head, wearing a "smile" of blade-like teeth that was neither friendly nor human.

Sizing Tamsin up in mere seconds, the girl looked nothing more than a scavenger to Eido, a temporary threat at best. Drawing her hand back as though to punch, she threw her fist forward and unleashed a blast of dark energy that cracked through, the friction of which caused smoke to rise from her bare fist.

Crates were thrown through a rusted wall nearby, revealing a whole new room connected to a maze of dilapidated maintenance shafts and pipes.

She took one step back then, hearing movement somewhere behind her.

Legs bent into a near crouch, she drew a pair of twin lightsabers in reversed grip, gleaming crimson bathing the hold with a sickening * hiss * as she then leapt towards her target, planning to end this fight quickly with swift Ataru.

​

 

[Tamsin Graves]

​

Theme: Glitter & Gold
Equipment: Armor | Other Equipment Here
Side Tags: Kaila Irons | Vakhari Lutris | Vestra Tane | Domina Prime
Main Tag: Eido Wreyth

One Second Tamsin was looking down at the Zabrak reaching for the ring at her foot the next she was staring up at a giant looking down at her.

"Pssst...PSSSSST!"

She saw the mace in the monster's hand, beneath her helmet Tamsin's eyes shot wide. Not sure what the hell was about to happen. Her eyes fixated unaware that her new frenemy was to raising from the ground. She only heard the low growl out of the corner of her ear. As the monster holding its mask to its face talked about ghosts.

"Uhh…" That amanous glance over her side and that that oh shit look as she felt the shadow looming over her. She didn't even have a moment to reflect on ghosts or the fact that she had one with her in fact. Tamsin was jack in the land of giants again, it was only a moment though.

As a dark surge of energy leapt from the Zabraks hand, crates and artifacts went flying as did the Tamsin. It was like a gnat getting by a massive gust of wind, her tiny body flung across the room and slammed through a rusted wall in the cargo bay into another room. Crates, Debris, and artifacts slamming off her as she crumpled to the floor of the next room.

The ring that had been beneath her foot went flying with her landing next to her on the floor. "aughhhh….frakking hell." Her armor protected her but there would be bruises allot of them if she survived. She knew she had to get her wits about her but before she could even think a damn second the Zabrak ignited sabers.

That familiar hiss ringing in her ears as she snapped her saber from her belt with her right hand as soon as she touched it a rush of force ran through it igniting it snap-hiss. The Zabrak was on top of her the right saber slamming into left side grazing her armor and penetrating the floor below the sizzle and snap heating up the armor. The zabraks left saber met a the purple blade of Tamsin's saber the pop hiss of clashing as they locked awkwardly. Tamsin just centimeters from having it plunge into her chest. She was pushing out against the blade, but her opponent was much bigger and stronger than her.

She grimaced and grunted trying to put all her strength into pushing back against Eido Wreyth 's saber. "Get off me!!!" She screamed in rage at the Zabrak staring down at her as telekinetic blast came from her vocal cords with all the pent-up anger and rage flooding her. As she did the helmet visor lit up as Tamsin eyes turned a burning sulphuric orange like raging fires where the eyes should be. It used to be a sign of the demon but now it was a sign of Tamsin's own power growing in her. She was done being pushed around by those that were bigger then her something in Tamsin snapped in that moment all she saw was a red stain of hatred.

 

[Domina Prime]

​

Ashin Cardé Varanin | Tamsin Graves | Eido Wreyth | Jerec Asyr

​

The haunted cargo bay groaned with the weight of silence until Dima tilted her head in a slow, exaggerated lean, visor glinting in the dim red light. One of her four arms lifted lazily, waggling clawed fingers at the stranger Tamsin Graves who had just bent down to pick something off the ground.

Their eyes met the black, glassy faceplate of her mask. The stranger froze. The only sound that dared escape her lips was a low "uhhhhhhhh?"

Dima said nothing. Her five eyes behind the visor flicked rapidly between the pale woman and the red-skinned Zabrak standing a pace or so in front of Tamsin. The stillness lasted but a breath, then the Zabrak Eido Wreyth broke it with a hiss like a wild animal, pouncing upon her counterpart. The cargo bay exploded with violence as raw waves of dark energy poured off the horn-crowned Sith. Her horns cracked and elongated grotesquely, body swelling with warped power as she drove the other woman back in a frenzy.

The stranger countered with desperate speed, their blades clashing, crimson and gold light splintering across the shadows. The fight was feral, tumbling over crates, steel groaning under their weight. The Zabrak's rage sent objects flying, and one glittering prize was knocked free, spinning through the air before skittering across the durasteel floor.

Dima grimaced at the commotion. Then she kinda just...watched. Her head tilted left, then right, then left again, like an oversized predator considering its prey. Or a child watching a game of dejarik play out in front of her.

She tapped her claws against her shield as the two combatants ripped through the hold in a storm of snarls and steel.

"Oh-hoh!" she finally broke, her voice ringing sharp as a blade, but carried by a lilting, almost gleeful note. She began swinging her new mace through the air as though shadowboxing alongside them. "Yeah, get 'em! Left hook, now a right! Don't let up now! Rip her face off, hah!"

Her laughter rattled through the chamber, distorted by the vox of her Mandalorian Mask.

But then, her five eyes caught the gleam.

That glittering, shining little thing lying across the floor.

The fight blurred into background noise as her predatory focus narrowed in. Shoulders hunching, claws flexing, Domina casually strode through the chaos, utterly unbothered by the flying sparks and shrapnel of the duel. She ducked once, sidestepped twice, a tail-flick shoving a rolling crate out of her path, until she loomed over the object.

She crouched down, staring down at the item but not quite interacting with it as she tilted her head heavily.

It was a ring. It was bland for one, but it seemed to be made of...wood? Yet its surface gleaming with an allure that whispered secrets.

"Hmmm, The feth is this?"

Her gaze darted back to the brawling Sith, now tearing chunks out of the walls as they fought for their lives. Then she looked down at the ring on the ground.

"Ohhhh," she said with a sweet sing-song lilt, "So this is what you two are getting all worked up over? It not even that shiny!"

The duel raged, and Dima stood back to her full height and let the ring remain in place.

"Well," she purred, voice thick with amusement, "You both seem awfully preoccupied."

She turned away from their chaos, shoulders shaking with a deep, delighted chitter that echoed in the hollow ship. The two tore the cargo bay to pieces behind her, but Domina was already happily humming to herself, admiring the delicate treasure like a schoolgirl fawning over a new trinket despite deciding not to claim it for herself.

And truth be told...she couldn't wait to see how long they could keep up their little bout.

 

[Vakhari Lutris]

Tags: Vestra Tane Kaila Irons Tamsin Graves ​

"If you are a puppet of Rhand then you belong to me too…."

"Rhand, the vessel. We both belong to one thing and one thing only, the end."

A simple last whisper is granted to the demon inside Tamsin Graves before all connection is cut, whatever or whoever it was did not seem to back down, or fear Starfall.​

"I'm on my way. Take what you can, we'll appraise and divide it after. Lutris, send some droids to assist if you please."

"Already on it, my own scans of the room indicate recorded paintings along with two force-rich artifacts. Irons, you should receive both more details along with a ping from Tane's location."

Kaila would be sent direct details on the room, everything from average credit calculations of the paintings and artwork to the layout of the room... And of course spotty details on the force artifacts.

The droids were already in route, helping Vestra Tane clear the room as they set up a defensive perimeter.

"Scratch that, updated pings found another item of interest."

M0rtis, who had been following along, skittered behind the paintings and artworks. Fetching an ornate box, the force pulsed from the treasure. Once the butler droid opens the box, it reveals an interesting mask. Vakhari herself took an interest in the thing, the droid closing the box before starting to make his way straight to the young Lutris.
​

"Looking around, I'm seeing...a lot of art. Nabooan, mostly. Sculpture, a few landscape pieces. Should probably save it before the ship gets torn up, but nothing special. Besides that, we've got..."

"Sending you some info."

Vestra would also get the information from the scans, providing information on the surrounding sets of artwork... Along with predicted credit prices for such pieces.

"Peace offering, for now. That glove however I can only make out as- Hold a moment."

One of the combat droids comes over, inspecting the glove.

"Not your run of the mill piece of gear, it holds a strangeness to it I have only seen before on Yalara. Most certainly an occult item, but I can't pinpoint the specifics."

Kaila got her info, and so did Vestra.

"All is silent on Grave's end, my feed was cut near the start of all this. Irons, we got any hauling droids to take the artwork? If either of you want it of course."​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Location: The Chimaera, rear section
Wearing: Armor
Tag: Vakhari Lutris Vestra Tane Tamsin Graves Delila Castillon

Anathemous recovered into a driven march through the halls.

Up ahead she spotted a pair of her commando droids placing a thermal charge on some door. It was a more secure room that hadn't opened during the sudden shift, between herself and Vestra Tane 's position.

"All is silent on Grave's end, my feed was cut near the start of all this. Irons, we got any hauling droids to take the artwork? If either of you want it of course."

"Graves is... going through some things, but she'll call if she needs us."

It felt strange, her secret-sister's ire. Only weeks ago she couldn't get her to stop following her into danger, perhaps even treason, but now? Well, she hoped her statement was still true.

"Call up the Haunt, see if they can get a dropship into the hangar bay and offload some haulers."

She joined the stack as the commando droids prepared to breach, the thermal charge having nearly melted through the lock. When the doors hissed open moments later, she moved with well trained precision. One hand on the droid's shoulder as the first two peeked and swept around the doorframe, weapons ready, a gloved hand up and prepared to summon the force.

An automated turret descended from the ceiling, squeezing off a shot that instantly tore through one droird's optical sensor before crumpling into itself as Anathemous squeezed her hand into a fist.

Only when the turret's remains clattered to the floor did she look over her shoulder.

SB-17, she recognized by the weathering on her droid's chassis, lay motionless.

After years of service, he was reduced to scrap like so many of his comrades.

Anathemous had grown used to this, turning away without further consideration to search the room with SB-14.

There were a variety of small boxes and assorted papers, one of which seemed to contain various knives. In particular were two with crystal blade and a lightdagger, which she held up to the light with an appraising stare. Rhandites weren't exactly her cup of tea, but there was beauty in understanding the dark cults of this galaxy all the same.

"Lutris, have you any fancy for knives?" she asked.

The box was closed up and handed to her droid, sent to return it to the ship.

She was about to turn out and find Vestra when a sort of glint caught her eye. Unassuming for the most part, just a metallic datacard that must have been moved during their search.

The sith slotted it into her gauntlet, projecting what looked like instructions.

Her eyes widened behind the helm, when she realized their contents.

Talk of resurrection, of Darth Sideous, Exar Kun, even Jedi. Anathemous quickly unplugged it and ripped one of the magick seals from her armor, wrapping it around the disc before stuffing it in her pocket as she left the room, headed towards Vestra Tane .

Whatever else lay on this ship, none of it was so important to the Dark Lord as this.

​

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Those holos contain somethin' about transcendin' death... sounds like a payday, huh. Alright, let's fill the box up."

Talk of resurrection, of Darth Sideous, Exar Kun, even Jedi. Anathemous quickly unplugged it and ripped one of the magick seals from her armor, wrapping it around the disc before stuffing it in her pocket

Many strange situations could arise in a place like this. Varm Nul and Koda Fett had good reason to believe they'd unearthed these files. So did Kaila Irons and her remaining commando droid. One team was correct. The other had a decidedly more surface-level set of notes, a simple early draft. To make matters worse, Anathemous — her droids having damaged the ship — now faced the same especially excruciating cold as others who had damaged it. How sad that her armor had Very Low cold resistance.

Even: Varm and Koda have the real thing
Odd: Anathemous has the real thing

 

[Jerec Asyr]

One of the problems with horrible pervasive cold was that metals contract at different rates. And the Chimaera had been modified many times by many hands working from many tech bases. The groaning wasn't just from the gravitic anomalies anymore. Frost began to shiver on the viewports. Outside, a cold front rebuffed the crimson clouds and harsh rain began to swirl in contesting wind.

The Chimaera lurched farther into the gas giant. And, horribly, it began to tilt...

 

[Vestra Tane]

OBJECTIVE: Archaeological Inquiry
EQUIPMENT: Prosthetic, Sword, Standard Shipbreaking Gear
Tags: Tamsin Graves Kaila Irons Vakhari Lutris | OPEN TO INTERRUPTION

---
Cold. So fething cold.

Vestra's remaining organic hand fumbled with the display case latches and the buckles on her bag, slowing but not halting the pace of her looting. The Force could keep the worst of the frost at bay, at least; all she had to do was turn the fire inward.

Hands dipped in freshly spilt blood. A bolt of plasma grazing her cheek. Torn muscle and cracked bone.

It could hardly be called comfort, what the Sith was summoning for herself. And the cold still crept in at the edges. But it returned the quickness to her limbs, so long as she concentrated on it, and it allowed her to perform her work, stowing the little shards and the rolled up glove in her pack.

Meanwhile, as the ship threatened to tear itself apart and Vestra gripped a nearby podium for balance, price tags filled the young Sith's vision. Literally - a gift from the techie she'd spurned and threatened earlier, according to the voices in her head. It was a suitable enough offering, and may have quelled the few remaining sparks of animosity in Vestra's heart, perhaps.

Regardless of any future death threats she may or may not make, she pocketed a small ivory carving on her way out of the room. It was, apparently, worth a few thousand credits, and Vestra needed to refurbish the Last Laugh.

"Heading to meet you, boss, should be - oh. Hi."

They were, apparently, closer than Vestra'd thought, because after jimmy-ing open another door at the far end of the vault, there Anathemous was. And as broody and imposing as ever! At least that explained the blasterfire she'd been trying to ignore.

 

[Vakhari Lutris]

Tag: Kaila Irons Vestra Tane (Side tag for Tamsin Graves )
​

"Lutris, have you any fancy for knives?"

"Why yes actually, many things you can use them for."

She wasn't really the type to go gung ho and take stabs at people, however- Blades can be used for surgical removals, conduits of power...

"Temperatures are beginning to rapidly decrease, stability of the ship itself is starting to plummet. I don't think I will be sending any droids out further, I would advise you get back to the ship."

Many issues were at hand, the general stability of the ship was rapidly declining. The biomonitors of her team were starting to shift, mostly with Vestra. Their internal temperatures dropping, it would seem that the apprentice was starting to feel the freezing bite.

Then, there was the issue of where Tamsin stomped off to. Unfavourable events to say the least, and as time began to tick down the young Lutris could only hope that Kaila would follow the senseable plan to get out.

"Tane's vitals are dropping, and this ship is becoming wildly unstable. My advised course of action is to pull out, I'm pulling your droids back to the ship, they will be sure to cover your back while you return with whatever items you can sensibly carry."

While there were deeper internal thoughts to watch in real time as her previous aggressor slowly drifted into the void, she put them aside as it was her more hidden self that fantasised about the image.

Using their connection through the force, Vakhari would entomb Vestra in a gentle fire. The flames did not damage their flesh, nor did they singe their attire. Alarming at first to be sure, yet the warmth would give Vestra time... So long as Vakhari retained her focus.

"Tane. Stable."

Her words were short and clear, one of the combat droids would slot itself into a nearby panel. The wire from its arm going right in as Vakhari had pushed herself into the surrounding systems, any doors that would have blocked their retreat back to the ship would be opened, defensive turrets outside of their area being activated, while the ones along their path to safety became decommissioned.

Anything and everything technical in their area was now under Vakhari's watch.

​

 

[Koda Fett]

HUTT SPACE
THE CHIMAERA

Fett was busy piling old Sith trinkets and treasures into the grab-bag of a box, all with no particular degree of careful examination of carefulness. Items clinked against one another, settling in deep, alongside the now-stolen holocrons. Transcending death was a common enough pursuit for those so caught up in the Force, few could spare the focus, fewer still could achieve it. So he heard.

He was more focused on living as is.

The ship began to creak and groan, stealing his focus as the visor turned towards the nearest viewport. Frost clung to the glass, creeping up alongside it as the ship seemed to sink ever deeper. Starship glass could withstand the elements, though the bounty hunter was less than enthusiastic about determining how much.

Glancing to Varm, the ship began to tilt. To roll. Swept from his feet, he came crashing into a yet looted shelf and fell down around the Sith treasures. "Unh," his vocoded growled, pushing at his helmeted head, as if to keep it steady.

He rose to a knee, "Not much time before this thing sinks."

Varm Nul​